The present invention relates generally to crop harvesting machines and, more particularly, to shields covering the disc cutterbar on a disc mower-conditioner.
Disc mower-conditioners can generally be placed into two categories: those using a reel and those not using a reel. Disc mower-conditioners not using a reel utilize the action of the rotating disc cutters to convey severed crop material rearwardly toward the crop conditioner. Some disc mower-conditioners using a reel position the reel rearwardly of the disc cutterbar solely to assist in conveying severed crop material rearwardly, as seen in German Pat. No. 2,151,156, for example. Other disc mower-conditioners position the reel to pick up crop material forward of the disc cutterbar and still convey the severed crop rearwardly.
This latter type of disc mower-conditioner generally includes a shielding mechanism, also referred to as disc covers, over the disc cutters to cooperate with the reel to guide severed crop material rearwardly toward the crop conditioner and to minimize a re-cutting of the severed crop. Examples of these shields can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,940,910 and 4,270,338; however, these fixed shields present a problem of gaining access to the individual disc cutter units for service, maintenance and repair thereof. Either the shields have to be unfastened and removed or the operator would have to gain access from the rear of the machine.